Fall is the time of year when people start thinking about stocking their larders - and with good reason. Just one trip to the back-yard garden yielded a bushel of perfect plums, and one can hardly visit friends or family without leaving with an armload of oversized zucchini.
If you're like me, you dream of canning your own tomato sauce, but the reality of time, space and other distractions seem to get in the way. Not to mention the lack of room in the freezer, pantry and countertops.
Here are some simple tips to help you make the most of your kitchen space and for creating and organizing a kitchen pantry.
Take inventory
The first step in getting organized is to sort through everything. Go through every drawer, shelf, cabinet, above the fridge, everywhere.
To help make room for the sorting process, put items in bins or boxes on the floor. Label them with general categories, and group like foods together: pastas and rice, cereals and grains. Also, keep together items you use together: baking supplies, oils and vinegars.
Label everything; most bulk items go unused because no one remembers what's in the bag. Throw out anything past its expiration date or that looks suspicious, unappetizing or simply unknown. Donate anything you know you won't use.
Assess
Now that you know what you have, it's time to figure out what you need.
Take a good look at the stash of cookbooks you've rarely, if ever, used. Get rid of any cookbook you haven't cracked open in the last year, and make a point of cooking at least one meal from any book you can't part with.
Go through the random recipes on scraps of paper. For those recipes you want to keep, place in sheet protectors and put in a plastic binder. Go a step further and label categories for soup, appetizers, etc.
To help you decide what recipes to keep, ask yourself: Would you make it tomorrow? Why not? What ingredients do you need that you never seem to have on hand? Make a shopping list if necessary.
Assign a home
Determine which ingredients you use the most and store them at eye level.
Measure shelves for can risers - great for spice cabinets and pantries.
Use baskets for small items, as well as floppy bags of rice and pasta. Use a lazy Susan in corners or on top shelves where it's difficult to see behind the front row. Store heavy items, such a beverages, on the floor.
If you are low on kitchen space, consider commandeering a nearby closet as a pantry or using industrial post-and-wire shelving to make a rolling pantry. Be sure to get plastic shelf liners to prevent smaller items from tipping or falling through the wires.
This is also a good time to go through all the kitchen utensils and appliances to create more space for food storage. Use the same process of sorting and tossing and assigning a home.
There are several storage strategies that can use space more efficiently: hanging pots and pans and installing pull-out shelves and vertical tray holders.
Tupperware party
Plastic containers take up a lot of space and tend to spontaneously get lost. I recommend converting entirely to glass containers with lids (available at most grocery stores). I also recommend storing with the lid on - as long as the lid and container are clean and dry before sealing.
I keep a stack of yogurt containers for anything I might take with me so I can toss or recycle the container if needed.
These tips will set you well on your way to an organized kitchen and pantry. Now you just have to get cooking!
Phinney Ridge's Leah Stahlsmith owns Simple Works Design.[[In-content Ad]]
